The Dutch Formula 18 team Gunnar LARSEN and Xander POLS won the 13 Aruba Heineken Catamaran Regatta. On Friday they beat the British Tornado duo Sunnucks/Self in the last race by four minutes on rating.

After the light conditions in the last couple of days, the wind was back and therefore the smiles on the faces of the competitors.

The promised sea breeze at breakfast was established. The race committee once again laid an Olympic course. In the strong breeze the competitors were looking forward to their final day on the water. Several catamarans capsized under spinnaker but there was little damage to equipment and everybody enjoyed sailing.

While as on the first racing day, it was again the Tornado's that dominated the race, it was Gunnar LARSEN and Xander POLS on their Nacra Formula 18 that proved themselves among the olympic catamarans. They had to finish less than five minutes after Sunnucks/Williams in order to beat them. The gap turned out to be only one minute and in the end victory was theirs.

"It was hard work to beat the Tornados, but fortunately we had more wind during the last race," commented Larsen afterwards. For Xander Pols it is the second time in a row that he has won the event. Last year, he helmed a Tornado to the first position overall. "In 2002 we had a tough competition as well, but it was different," recounted Pols. "We had lots of trouble with the equipment and that was nerve breaking. This year, we had to deal with very good sailors. William is a fantastic competitor, so we are happy that we finally beat him."

Richard Allen and Stuart Gummer got a third place. "This was my seventh time racing in Aruba, but I still did not win the event," said Allen. "Last year, we were second and this year third. So, we are going backwards instead of forwards, therefore we need to come back. We have to win it one year."

It is the first time the first and second placed boats in the Aruba Regatta have levelled on points at the end of the regatta. Larsen and Pols were the winners, because they had won more races. "We sailed as fast as we could," said Sunnucks after racing. "They were just to close to us. Anyway, it was a good race and competition."

After the finish, all competitors began to pack the Hapag Lloyd containers for the transport to Europe, where they will be unloaded in the middle of the winter with perhaps snow-showers. The organisation looks back on a successful and fair sailing event.

Organiser Edwin LODDER: "Thanks to the support of all sponsors, this year's edition was again a success. The conditions were lighter than last year, but we could complete all planned races. We had two days with more wind and in a way it makes the competitions more fair. Although it was the first time with such a big group, the atmosphere was great."

Tom Burton (AUS) and Alison Young (GBR) hit the right note in the Laser and Laser Radial at ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne as they took out the top honours and qualification spots to the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final.

It was double Australian gold in the Paralympic classes. Matt Bugg (AUS) came out on top in the 2.4mR whilst London 2012 Paralympic SKUD18 gold medallists Dan Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch (AUS) were triumphant in the two person keelboat.

Lithuania's Juozas Bernotas came out on top in the Men's RS:X whilst Russia's Stefania Elfutina was triumphant in the Women's RS:X. Both sailors claim the first Abu Dhabi ISAF Sailing World Cup Final spots whilst Jock Calvert (AUS) and Joanna Sterling (AUS) picked up the Oceanic spots for the Emirati finale.

There was some fast paced action in the 49er and 49erFX Medal Races at ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne as Nathan Outteridge & Iain Jensen (AUS) and Maia & Ragna Agerup (NOR) claimed the honours and Abu Dhabi final spots.

A tight group of five young Papua New Guinean (PNG) Laser sailors are stepping up their 2015 Pacific Games competition program using this week's ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne. PNG is one of 33 countries represented at the important Oceanic event, the largest Olympic sailing regatta in the southern hemisphere.

Melbourne, Australia will host the final Rio 2016 Paralympic Games qualification regatta in 2015. With just under one year until the event, the 2015 IFDS Worlds was launched at ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne.

ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne kick starts the journey to the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates with qualification spots and top ranking points available in the Australian city.

Four boats in the Volvo Ocean Race celebrated rounding the venerated landmark of Cape Horn on Monday, a pleasure cruelly denied Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA) after the Chinese boat's mast was broken early in a dramatic day on Leg 5.

The wind played dirty tricks all day in Palma on the sailors and race committees who had to juggle with big shifts and different pressure. From 4 to 20 knots, and reaching 40 in some gusts, the wind turned around the bay playing with everybody's nerves.

Ghosting across the line in the inky blackness of a Mediterranean spring night, finally slicing through the finish line set on the very waters where some 40 odd years ago he cut his teeth as a young, aspiring sailor harbouring great dreams, at 01:47:00hrs local time Guillermo Altadill and his talented, ever reliable Chilean co-skipper Jose Muñoz secured second placed in this third edition of the Barcelona World Race, the round the world race for two crew which left the Catalan capital on December 31st 2014.

Algoa Bay brought lighter conditions on Sunday, and after a postponement waiting for the wind to settle, the race got underway in 7 knots of breeze from the south-east. Ted Conrads and Brian Haines from the USA were the pathfinders, and opened up the gate for the fleet as they sailed out to the right-hand side of the course.